Stanford may have entered the 50th playing of The
Goodwin, which the Cardinal host at the Stanford Golf Course, at No. 31 in the
latest Golfstat rankings, but they
had won their event 15 times in the first 49 stagings and well, come on, we’re
talking about Stanford here. No. 31?
Well, Stanford made it 16 team titles for the home team and
the Cardinal also accounted for their 16th individual champion when
Brandon Wu, a senior from Scarsdale, N.Y. and ranked No. 20 in the World
Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), defeated teammate David Snyder, a junior from
McAllen, Texas, on the first hole of a playoff Saturday.
The 6,758-yard, par-70 Stanford Golf Course layout played
tough with Wu carding a 3-under-par 67 in Saturday’s final round to finish at
4-under 206. Snyder buried a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to
finish off a 2-under 68 and force a playoff with Wu for the individual title.
Wu would win the individual title on the first hole of a
playoff, but there was no doubt that a Stanford player was going to lift that
trophy. And there was no doubt that Stanford was going to hoist the team
championship trophy either.
Wu and Snyder led Stanford to the best team round of the
tournament, a 6-under 274, in the final round. The Cardinal had carded a
1-under 279 in Thursday’s opening round and matched that total in Friday’s
second round. It all added up to an 8-under 832, 18 shots better than Pac-12
rival Southern California, the reigning conference champion, which is ranked
sixth, and 22 shots better than third-place finisher Oklahoma, the reigning Big
12 champion, which is ranked fifth.
Southern Cal, which had posted a solid 1-under 279 in the
second round, closed with a 5-over 285 to claim runnerup honors at 10-over 850.
Oklahoma, which had matched par in the second round with a 280, took third at
14-over 854.
Two more Pac-12 entries were next in line with No. 11
California, Stanford’s age-old rival, no matter what the sport, in fourth at
15-over 855 and No. 87 Washington, outperforming its ranking by taking fifth at
17-over 857.
The Cal Bears finished up with a 9-over 289 while the
Huskies, who had grabbed the opening-round lead with a 2-under 278, carded an
8-over 288 in the final round.
No. 33 UNLV was another three shots behind Washington in
sixth place at 20-over 860 after a solid final round of 2-over 282 and it was
another three shots back to No. 14 Pepperdine, which finished strong by
matching par in the final round with a 280 to end up alone in seventh place in
the 27-team field (including a Stanford B team) at 23-over 863.
Wu and Snyder were among the group chasing Southern Cal’s
Kaito Onishi, a sophomore from Bradenton, Fla., after two rounds as Onishi
added a sizzling 4-under 66 to his opening-round 69 for a 5-under 135 total.
Wu was four shots behind Onishi after adding a 1-under 69 to
his opening-round 70 and Snyder was three out of the lead after adding a 1-over
71 to the sparkling 67 he posted in the opening round.
Onishi fell back with a 3-over 73 in the final round to end
up among a group that included California’s Collin Morikawa, a senior from La
Canada Flintridge, Calif. and No. 4 in the WAGR, and Brigham Young’s Peter
Kuest, a junior from Fresno, Calif., in a tie for third at 2-under 208, two
shots behind Wu and Snyder.
In addition to Wu and Snyder, Stanford has another veteran
with a pretty decorated record. Isaiah Salinda, a senior from South San
Francisco, Calif. and No. 37 in the WAGR, carded a 2-under 68 in the final
round to finish alone in sixth place, a shot behind the trio tied for third, at
1-under 209.
Salinda reached the semifinals of last summer’s U.S. Amateur
at the Pebble Beach Golf Links before suffering a hard-fought 1-up loss to UCLA
sophomore Devon Bling.
Henry Shimp, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., struggled in the
final round with a throw-out 78, but he opened with a 2-over 72 and carded a
solid 2-under 68 in the second round. Shimp finished among the group tied for
45th at 8-over 218.
Shimp showed up at a Golf Association of
Philadelphia-administered U.S. Amateur qualifier at Aronimink Golf Club and
White Manor Country Club the summer before he started at Stanford in 2016 and
grabbed a ticket to Oakland Hills Country Club.
Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Daulet Tuleubayev, a
freshman from Kazakhstan who came up big for the Cardinal in the final round
with a counting 1-over 71 to end up among the group tied for 60th at
10-over 220.
The best score out of the Stanford B team, which finished 19th
at 40-over 880, came from sophomore Nate Menon, the 2015 PIAA Class AA champion
as a junior at Wyomissing. Menon has been challenging for a spot in the
Cardinal’s first five.
After opening with an even-par 70, Menon added a 2-over 72
before finishing up with a 3-over 73 that enabled him to finish in the group
tied for 29th at 5-over 215.
Morikawa was one of the heroes of the United States team
that cruised to a 19-7 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the 2017
Walker Cup Match at Los Angeles Country Club as he was perfect in four matches.
He only trailed Southern Cal’s Onishi by two shots after rounds of 69 and 68
Thursday and Friday, respectively. A final-round 71 dropped him into the tie
for third.
BYU’s Kuest added a pair of even-par 70s to his opening
round of 2-under 68 to join the group at 2-under.
Oklahoma’s Quade Cummins, a redshirt junior from
Weatherford, Okla. and No. 47 in the WAGR, and Nova Southeastern’s Juan Jose
Guerra, a senior from the Dominican Republic, shared seventh place, a shot
behind Stanford’s Salinda at even-par 210.
Cummins displayed a strong finishing kick with a 3-under 67
to get it back to even-par for the tournament. Guerra stumbled to a 77 in the
opening round, but caught fire in Friday’s second round, firing a scintillating
6-under 64, the low individual round of the tournament. He closed with a
1-under 69 to get his piece of seventh.
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